The loyalty system allows a consumer to accumulate general loyalty points from one or more merchants, and convert any desired subset of general points to loyalty dollars associated with a specific merchant. The system stores, for each consumer, the merchant loyalty dollars (or monetary equivalent) by merchant within a remotely-accessible host database or within a smart card database. Upon conducting a purchase at a particular merchant, the consumer may utilize a code key to facilitate access to the consumer's own loyalty dollars for the particular merchant. The loyalty dollars are then applied to the purchase transaction as a discount or rebate. The consumer may also re-load the merchant loyalty dollar accounts.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A system comprising: an incentive processor configured to facilitate allocation of loyalty points; a tangible, non-transitory memory configured to communicate with the processor; a conversion rules database configured to convert general loyalty points into a first merchant loyalty dollar value; a conversion rules database configured to convert general loyalty points into a second merchant loyalty dollar value; and a consumer accounts database having a general loyalty point database configured to store the general loyalty points and a plurality of merchant loyalty dollar value databases configured to store the first merchant loyalty dollar value and the second merchant loyalty dollar value.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is located within at least one of a remotely accessible host and a smart card.
3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the conversion rules database is configured to interact with a promotion rules database.
4. The system of claim 1 , further comprising an incentive engine configured to provide a suggestion of various awards to a consumer for which the consumer is eligible based upon the loyalty points generated by the consumer.
5. The system of claim 1 , further comprising an incentive engine configured to operate in at least one of real-time and batch mode with respect to storing the general loyalty points and the merchant loyalty dollar values in the consumer accounts database.
6. The system of claim 1 , further comprising an enrollment module configured to enroll at least one of consumers and merchants.
7. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a participating merchant database in communication with an enrollment module.
8. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a promotion rules database configured to determine that at least one of a reward and the general loyalty points are earned based on transaction data.
9. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a transfer module for transferring at least a portion of the second merchant loyalty dollar value into the first merchant loyalty dollar value for use in a transaction.
10. A method comprising: converting, by a computer-based system for allocating points, general loyalty points into a first merchant loyalty dollar value; converting, by a computer-based system for allocating points, general loyalty points into a second merchant loyalty dollar value; and storing, by the computer-based system and in a consumer accounts database, the general loyalty points, the first merchant loyalty dollar value, and the second merchant loyalty dollar value.
11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the consumer accounts database includes a general loyalty point database and a plurality of merchant loyalty dollar value databases.
12. The method of claim 10 , further comprising transferring, by the computer-based system, at least a portion of the second merchant loyalty dollar value into the first merchant loyalty dollar value for use in a transaction.
13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the computer-based system is located within at least one of a remotely accessible host and a smart card.
14. The method of claim 10 , further comprising providing a suggestion of various awards to a consumer for which the consumer is eligible based upon the loyalty points generated by the consumer.
15. The method of claim 10 , further comprising storing, in at least one of real-time and batch mode, the general loyalty points and the merchant loyalty dollar values in the consumer accounts database.
16. The method of claim 10 , further comprising enrolling at least one of consumers and merchants.
17. The method of claim 10 , further comprising authenticating consumer IDs.
18. The method of claim 10 , further comprising determining that at least one of a reward and the general loyalty points are earned based on transaction data.
19. The method of claim 10 , further comprising receiving a conversion request for converting the general loyalty points.
20. An article of manufacture including a non-transitory, tangible computer readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by a computer-based incentive system for allocating points, cause the computer-based system to be capable of performing operations comprising: converting, by a computer-based system for allocating points, general loyalty points into a first merchant loyalty dollar value; converting, by a computer-based system for allocating points, general loyalty points into a second merchant loyalty dollar value; and storing, by the computer-based system and in a consumer accounts database, the general loyalty points, the first merchant loyalty dollar value, and the second merchant loyalty dollar value.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
April 23, 2013
February 11, 2014
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